Drugs are fuelling the crisis in Attawapiskat and police cannot do much about it

(Moosonee and Moose Factory implicated in this story as transit communities)

Source: National Post

Douglas Quan | April 22, 2016

Each winter in northern Ontario, a 300-kilometre ice road that connects Attawapiskat to the rest of the world becomes a pipeline for drug smugglers and bootleggers who conceal contraband in engine compartments, diaper bags, even in children’s ski-doo pants.

The only other way into the town — in the headlines recently for a massive suicide and overdose crisis — is by plane. Drug couriers have flown in to the local airport with narcotics stuffed in their pockets, shoes and carry-on bags, police say. Pills are also sent into northern communities by mail, sometimes hidden in children’s toys or sewn into the seams of baby blankets.

“We’re working hard to try to intercept, but some of it is going to get through; you won’t get it all,” acknowledges Terry Armstrong, chief of the Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service, the largest First Nations law enforcement agency in Canada with 35 detachments across northern Ontario, including one in Attawapiskat.

Police know of 12 drug dealers in Attawapiskat, individuals who arrange drug shipments by plane, car or mail, and then distribute them. Payments are typically made through bank transfers, though it is not unheard of for suppliers to travel up north to settle debts.

But drug dealers are not the only source. It is not uncommon for local residents, in the interest of turning a quick profit, to sell their prescription pills and “live with the pain,” Armstrong says.

In fact, the most common substances police encounter are pain relievers, such as OxyContin and Percocet, as well as amphetamines and marijuana. Occasionally, police will run into cocaine, and recently, they’ve seen fentanyl creep in.

Drug prices up north can be as much as five times higher than prices in the south; police declined to say what the going rates are now, but said a single OxyContin pill has fetched $400 in the past. It raises the question of how residents can afford it. 

Nishnawbe-Aski police Insp. Eric Cheechoo says some residents will put some of their government assistance money toward drugs. Others will steal items from homes, re-sell them, and then use the money for drugs.

Adds Armstrong: “Presumptively, kids (are) going without boots, houses (are) going without a fridge full of food.” Police suspect the youth involved in the recent rash of suicide attempts likely did not buy their drugs but simply stole them or found them lying unsecured in the home. Cheechoo says the number of attempted suicides — including 11 in a 24-hour time span earlier this month — caught officers off-guard.

“We weren’t prepared to have so many attempted suicides, so many youth thinking about suicide all in one weekend,” he says. “You’ve read about all the different problems, the lack of recreation, lack of something to do. It was sad to see the desperation in the children.”

The crisis has brought promises from provincial and federal officials of more mental health support. Police say they, too, are desperate for extra support to deal with the illicit drug trade. Cheechoo says he lacks the investigative resources to go after the dealers. “We know where they live. But gathering evidence to bang on the door, there are so many roadblocks,” he says.

Investigators typically have to apply for a warrant over the phone and send supporting documents to a justice of the peace via fax, which slows things down. A spokesman for Ontario’s attorney general said justices of the peace are available 24/7 to consider warrant applications over the phone and that the process can sometimes be more efficient than doing it in person.

Conducting covert surveillance on an individual is also fraught with challenges since everyone knows everyone in the community, Cheechoo says. “Our officers are all reactive, there’s very little time, most of the time, (to be) pro-active.” Armstrong says he has 132 officers spread across northern Ontario but could use 52 more to shore up the frontlines and to create specialized investigative units. Currently, he has only one drug sergeant and one drug constable on the entire force.

“We’re underfunded, under-resourced,” he says. “Something’s got to give… We’re so behind right now.” A spokesman for Public Safety Canada, which provides 52 per cent of the police service’s $24 million annual funding, says the current agreement is effective until 2018. As the renewal date approaches, consideration will be given to updating First Nations policing policy and learning from past experiences.

Ontario’s ministry of community safety, which provides the remaining 48 per cent of the funding, supplements that funding with various grants, a spokeswoman said. And the Ontario Provincial Police provides support with its specialized resources.

In the meantime, the Nishnawbe-Aski police say they’re doing what they can to curb the drug trade. During the winter months, they perform vehicle stops along the ice road looking for contraband.

Recently they brought a sniffer dog to a postal outlet in Dryden, Ont., to try to intercept contraband-laden packages destined for northern fly-in communities.

Among the items officers seized: gabapentin pills used to treat neuropathic pain and seizures; “shatter,” a derivative of marijuana that resembles peanut brittle; marijuana cupcakes and suckers; and alcohol. “We do the best the can with what we have,” Armstrong says. “We could do a lot more.”

Link to National Post article: http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/how-drugs-are-fuelling-the-crisis-in-attawapiskat

Weeneebayko Area Health Authority increasing opioid treatment in Moose Factory

(Source: Timmins Daily Press - December 6, 2015)

The Weeneebayko Area Health Authority (WAHA) is currently investigating the potential implementation of the first pilot suboxone program in Moose Factory beginning this winter.

Suboxone, a drug containing both buprenorphine and naloxone, is used to treat addiction to opioids such as heroin, morphine, and prescription pain relievers. It acts as a pain control medication while also helping to relieve the physical symptoms of opiate withdrawal.

“There are many studies demonstrating the benefits of Suboxone in treating opioid dependence, it is associated with reduced illicit opioid use and increased treatment retention,” said Deborah Hill, the vice-president of Patient Care and Nursing Executive at WAHA. “Suboxone can be used in the short term to help patients 'detox' from opioids. It is more commonly used as a maintenance therapy in the long-term to reduce cravings and illicit opioid use over months to years.”

While there are several patients who are currently being prescribed the drug, no formal program is in place in the region at this time.

Hill said that providing Suboxone treatment in a formalized program will provide more “effective and efficient patient care” by providing “daily medication dispensing, timely follow-up, comprehensive care, and an efficient pathway for referrals to local counselors and traditional healers.”

The WAHA will work in partnership with the Moose Cree First Nation and other community partners in the James Bay Coast region to determine the need, feasibility and required resources to launch a pilot suboxone program in the region.

“There are many details to work out including space, staffing, and new equipment, and our hospital is investigating our capacity to provide specialized training for staff and dedicated clinic time for physician-supervised suboxone starts and follow-ups,” Hill explained.

The decision to embark on this project comes after a resolution was passed by the Mushkegowuk Council last month amid growing concerns of the damaging effects that opioid drug addictions have on members of the First Nations communities along the James Bay Coast.

Results provided in the 2015 People's Inquiry on Suicide and calls to action chronicled in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission suggest that prescription and opiate drug abuse can potentially be linked to the rash of suicides experienced in northern First Nations communities.

Drug abuse has the strongest link to youth suicide rates; the Inquest found, as many of the communities' youth population would engage in the “use of alcohol and drugs to escape pain and unhappiness.”

According to Nishnawbe Aski Nation statistics, more than 400 people have taken their own lives within its 49 communities over the past quarter century. Over a three year period from 2009 to 2011, it is estimated that approximately 600 youth and other community members experienced suicide ideation and in 2009, there were more than a dozen suicides committed from within from the James Bay Coast.

Building on the results of these two reports, The Mushkegowuk Council is in support of investigating the feasibility of a Suboxone clinic to improve the health and overall well-being of those in their communities.

The goal will be to provide more effective rehabilitation efforts in Attawapiskat, Kashechewan, Fort Albany, Moose Cree, Taykwa Tagamou, Chapleau Cree and Missanabie Cree First Nations.

“The program will be considered successful if we can demonstrate that a sustainable volume of clients have achieved positive outcomes including reduced opioid use, improved function and stability, and/or improved health measures,“ Hill said. “We will be consulting the Moose Cree First Nation throughout the process to ensure the program is also meeting community needs.”

Special Committee on Non-Medical Use of Drugs

(Source: Parliament of Canada - 37th Parliament, 1st Session)

EVIDENCE

CONTENTS

Monday, April 22, 2002

Detective Superintendent Jim Hutchinson (Ontario Provincial Police): I'll start with your first question in regard to decriminalization, the police message and the message to young people in regard to decriminalization. I think to a certain extent there are mixed messages out there already on decriminalization and legalization. There's been enough in the papers that the young people are reading and listening to, and certainly that comes back to us all the time. The image out there is that marijuana is a soft drug, a harmless drug, and certainly anything to do with criminalization would only pass on that message. Decriminalization or legalization is not going to change the trafficking of cannabis.

    Currently, all organized crime get their main revenue from drug trafficking, and marijuana and the organized grows are one of the main areas. Decriminalization or legalization is not going to change this. As we've seen in the tobacco and liquor industries, they'll just move on to something else, and they'll be involved in the trade.

    Certainly, we're trying to get the point across to young people that marijuana is not a good drug. We look upon it as being a drug. And whether you want to call it a gateway drug or not, it does lead to other drug use. Surveys have shown that people who are involved in the use of cocaine--children--are many times more liable to use cocaine and other drugs if they have used marijuana. I'll equate that to alcohol. If you're sitting around with a group of guys drinking beer and somebody has a bottle of tequila, it's pretty easy to take a shot of tequila. And I guess if you're sitting around smoking pot and somebody has Ecstasy, it's very easy to make that next move.

    As far as harm reduction and safe injection sites are concerned, I understand we're just getting started with some trials on those. We police rural Ontario, and I'll say right now it's my belief that rural Ontario is not ready for safe injection sites. We have supported and been involved in the needle exchange program in various communities in Ontario. Those programs have been very successful, and we certainly have those types of drugs in Ontario. We have crack cocaine in Kenora; we have cocaine in Moose Factory; and there are injections around the province. Needle exchange programs are various and across the province.

    There are issues around safe injection sites. I know this committee is going to Europe and will have a chance to look at sites that have been in place for several years. I suggest to you, please, take the police perspective in those areas, because they've been dealing with that enforcement. We have to deal with where the drugs come from, the types of drugs, whether there are going to be more traffickers around these safe injection sites, the quality, the civil liability. At the same time, we do agree that anything that will cut down on the spreading of HIV or other disease is something we have to look at in terms of harm reduction. Other than that, we are looking at drug reduction. That's what our main job is in enforcement, and it's a multi-tasked agency force to do that.

Man Jailed for Sending Drugs to Dealer in Moosonee

(Source: The Daily Press - Timmins)

August 21, 2015

TIMMINS - A Timmins man who sent a package of highly addictive painkillers to be sold on the streets of Moosonee has been sentenced to more than six months in jail.

Police used footage from a video surveillance camera in the ONR bus station in Timmins to positively identify the man who sent the package — Ed Nakogee, 41.

On Thursday, Nakogee pleaded guilty in Timmins provincial court to possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking, in addition to an unrelated offense of failing to attend court.

Pierre Lambert-Bélanger, a Timmins lawyer who serves as a federal prosecutor for drug cases in Timmins, said the drugs were destined for a “remote, vulnerable community” where “addiction issues are rampant.”

Lambert-Bélanger said that was an aggravating factor fuelled by the fact many residents in these Northern communities are “spending a significant amount of their income” to “feed their addiction.”

Percocet tablets typically sell on the street for about $20 apiece.

The court heard Nakogee attended the bus station on March 5, 2014 and turned a package over to the teller, providing instructions that it to be delivered to Moosonee where somebody would be there to pick it up.

Lambert-Bélanger said the teller’s suspicions were triggered by the fact the package emitted a strong odour of cannabis.

Police were subsequently contacted.

It turned out there was no marijuana in the package. Instead, Lambert-Bélanger said it contained 130 Percocet tablets, with a street value of $2,600.

Lambert-Bélanger said police allowed the package to be delivered and then made arrangements with the Ontario Provincial Police in Moosonee to arrest the recipient on the other end.

Graham Jenner, the defence lawyer who represented Nakogee, explained his client was “not the brains of the operation” but merely served as a mule to drop off the package.

Jenner suggested Nakogee “was taken advantage of” as he received a mere $40 for his troubles.

Nakogee, who has a history of drug problems, had a relapse and required the money to feed his addiction, Jenner explained.

The prosecutors recommended Nakogee receive a total of 10 months in jail for the two offenses he was convicted on, while the defence suggested five months was appropriate.

Judge Michelle Rocheleau settled on six-and-a-half months but gave Nakogee 41 days credit for time he had already served in custody awaiting his court appearance on Thursday.